ShinyPlasticBag

Holy crap, you wouldn't believe the rain we had today. Although it was only 70 mm, it caused quite a bit of flooding, particularly in Bedford. Ah, spring — gotta love it, right?

It's that crazy time of year where everything jumps you from behind. That's right, it's the end of the semester. I'll be busy from now until mid-April so my updates will be more sporadic than usual. However, I'll do my best.

Oh, and I saw the crazy lady from Passions at McDonald's yesterday.

• Written on 31 March 2003 & posted at 04:53 AM.
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Yes, my friends, you read the title correctly.

Now is the time for pants.

Through the ages, humankind has been building towards a better future. A future where war and famine have been eliminated, a future where the ordinary people lead extraordinary lives. A future where everyone has pants.

We're almost there, my friends. Now is the time to stop war. Now is the time to stop famine. Now is the time...for pants.

Anyway. I am at Dal. It's boring today — I'm tired. I can't believe my second year is over already. Time is flying. Before I know it, I'll have a degree and no idea what to do with it. I guess I'll just have to deal with that as it comes.

Life is too complicated.

I want to join Starfleet.

I am such a geek.

this is an sattemlllpt tol ttwype wiktholut olifwtihng mjy hzanxds frolm the kieyboardex.
it is vgery \hard to xdo.
try it som etime.

(this is an attempt to type without lifting my hands from the keyboard.
it is very hard to do.
try it sometime.)

• Written on 25 March 2003 & posted at 02:59 AM.
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You know, it's sick how little celebrities seem to care about their fans.

Anyway, there's no news here, other than the sickening amount of snow we got yesterday. We built a megalithic snow-clone of the heads on Easter Island. However, it ended up looking more like John Travolta. Unfortunately, there are no photos. Sigh.

• Written on 24 March 2003 & posted at 11:38 AM.
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As much as I don't want another terrorist attack to happen, and especially not in Britain, I would love to hear an announcer on CNN try to keep a straight face when he says this...

“This just in. London bridge is falling down...falling down, falling down.”

Wouldn't that be great?

Check this article out. It's fantasticool. It's on the New York Times, so you'll have to sign up for a free account.

• Written on 23 March 2003 & posted at 12:35 PM.
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A funny thing happened when I was at work today. I went into the hospital's Tim Horton's for my morning coffee, and to my surprise, the guy working at the counter recognized me and made my coffee for me, as I like it.

It's kind of weird, but also quite handy, unless I'm in a tea mood (which would cause problems).

It reminds me of this thing we discussed in psychology. Apparently, there is a certain region of the brain that is abnormally large in London cab drivers, because they have such a complicated mental map in their head. There must be a similar brain region that is abnormally large in Tim Horton's employees that not only allows them to prepare complex orders muttered through a drive-thru, but to also remember the regulars.

I call it the Hortocampus.

• Written on 22 March 2003 & posted at 05:24 AM.
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I couldn't believe it's not butter either.

• Written on 22 March 2003 & posted at 04:12 AM.
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Geeks, click here for a cool game and here to get a life. (Font) Freaks, click here. And antediluvians, click here for a definition of yourself.

More to come.

• Written on 22 March 2003 & posted at 12:15 AM.
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Googlism is great. It has generated such useful tips as now is the time for pants and pointed out that Mike Johnstone is having a contest to name his car.

Check it out.

• Written on 21 March 2003 & posted at 12:12 PM.
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Ooh sweet!

• Written on 21 March 2003 & posted at 03:10 AM.
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So. Mom returned home today, very excited, because she had purchased...funnels. I don't know why she was excited.

Although a funnel is a useful thing, it's nothing to get excited about. I don't anyone has ever been excited about a funnel, at least not since Monsieur Francois Funnelle invented the things in 1368.

Oh well.

Anyway, war, blah blah blah. I'm getting sick of the media saturation. It's absolutely pouring rain outside today, which seems like an appropriate metaphor. I'm hoping the rain will wash away the lumps of disgusting end-of-winter snow-turned-ice-banks that are lining the streets. Hope hope.

So, remember: Black Adder. The second.

• Written on 21 March 2003 & posted at 03:03 AM.
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This is better than the Miss Cleo LiveJournal.

• Written on 20 March 2003 & posted at 11:41 AM.
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IRAQI OFFICIALS said at least one person was killed after U.S. forces pounded Baghdad with cruise missiles and precision-guided bombs Thursday morning at the start of the fight to depose Saddam Hussein.

Nine people were in serious but stable condition with shrapnel injuries at Baghdad’s Al-Yarmouk Hospital, Dr. Jamal Abed Hassan said. They included six members of one family that was having breakfast when their town 20 miles west of Baghdad was attacked, the doctor said.

“Bush, Bush, listen carefully. We all love Saddam Hussein,” one family member, Hamad Abdullah, said as she recovered from injuries in both legs and recited a chant from recent government-organized demonstrations.

Full Story

• Written on 20 March 2003 & posted at 04:09 AM.
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Ugh. War has started. You know what that means: the protesting has begun as well. Halifax is now filled with flyers.

Some of them are the usual “WAR IS EVIL” kind. Some of them are the stupid and impractical “BOYCOTT AMERICA!” kind (I wonder if these geniuses realize that the computer they used to print the poster invariably had an American operating system on it?).

The most annoying kind, however, is the “COMPANY X IS EVIL!” kind. I saw one lambasting General Electric. I have nothing against General Electric — they make damn fine microwaves and lightbulbs. Their TVs are a bit crap, but the microwave thing makes up for that. Just because they have a contract with the American military for defence research doesn't make them evil — in fact, one of the basic rights of the First World is the freedom to do what you want.

So, if you don't like companies that help the military, fine. But don't try to sway everyone else to agree with you.

Oh, and get your ass off of the Internet. It, too, was developed for the military's benefit, after all.

Anyway, R Stevens had a great comic on Diesel Sweeties today.

• Written on 19 March 2003 & posted at 10:41 PM.
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So, I've figured out the secret of becoming British. It's easy. Some people find the British accent “sexy”, or think it sounds more “intelligent”. It's really, however, just a simple type of mispronounciation.

There are only two steps you must follow, although actually following them requires a bit of concentration.

Number A: Add an h after every a — for example, “accent” becomes “ahccent”.
Number B: Replace any “er” sounds at the end of words with “ah” sounds — for example, “Peter” becomes “Petah”. Don't over pronounce this, however, or you'll become Australian. Also note that this doesn't hold for “er” at the start or in the middle of words — “erroneous”, for example, shouldn't be pronounced “ahroneous”. This generates a Texan accent, which I wouldn't wish upon anyone.

That is all.

• Written on 19 March 2003 & posted at 06:47 AM.
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Alright. Here's an idea:
Saddam Hussein should offer a counter ultimatum to GW before it's too late. The counter ultimatum should be as follows:
Saddam agrees to be exiled from Iraq, perhaps with his children, on the sole condition that GW also agrees to be exiled (children not necessarily exiled).

If GW really cared about the safety of the country, he would agree to this ultimatum. If, as I suspect, he is merely concerned about finishing what Daddy started, he'd give it up.

Like that would ever happen.

• Written on 19 March 2003 & posted at 03:59 AM.
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Stupid Americans! I hereby curse GW. And Tony Blair...should be ashamed of himself. He had one of the highest popularity ratings EVER. What the hell is he doing this for?

Iraq is none of their business. This is a sovereign nation we're talking about — let them run it like they want. I don't agree with the Iraq way of life, but I don't think it's the American's job to change it.

Anyway, I'm watching CNN. I love CNN — these guys are practically shitting themselves, they're so excited. Every few minutes they interrupt what they're doing and cut to some important incoming information. They also seem to be taking pride that they're the only news network stupid enough to have corespondents in Iraq. Sigh.

The modern world is supremely messed up.

By the way; if you've got an nVidia video card, you can download a demo version of the EarthViewer software CNN has been using lately for their cool 3D flyovers of various countries. It's a pretty small download.

Bubye.

• Written on 19 March 2003 & posted at 02:11 AM.
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I think I just saw Annie Lennox (of Eurhythmics fame). She was masquerading as a doctor here at the IWK. Those crazy famous people. Always pretending to be normal people who just bear a passing resemblence to themselves. No one else sees them but me!

Anyway, it's fucking fantastic outside today. The weather is sweet with a capital eeee sound. According to the weather on CBC, it's four below zero. But it feels much warmer — no wind, lots of sun, annoying birds chirping.

Spring.

• Written on 16 March 2003 & posted at 11:52 AM.
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Lots of love in the general direction of the Nucleus developers. It's a PHP/MySQL-based content management system a la blogger, only much more customizable and infinitely better. I love it.

Screw Pennyware.

• Written on 16 March 2003 & posted at 03:27 AM.
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I just read a fantastic article on Wired, entitled How Hydrogen Can Save America. I'm not American, but what's good for them is generally good for us.

The article is extremely well written and not only gives reasons why America should start switching to hydrogen immediately, but also how. I suggest that everyone read this. It's the kind of sound thinking the world is in need of.

Anyway, from the clairvoyancy department, my prediction for this year's summer smash is Spirit in the Sky by Garrett Gates. Let's see how right I am — I'm usually pretty good about musical predictions.

• Written on 15 March 2003 & posted at 11:52 AM.
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Picture this: you're a professional toothbrush designer. It's your job. Day in, day out, you're just sitting around, thinking of ways to improve the toothbrushing experience for the average person.

The odds of you making any significant contribution to the field are very low, and even if, for some reason, you revolutionized the toothbrush industry, who would care? Not the average person — would you care if some revolutionary happened in dental care? Not the dentists — that's lost money for them.

No one would care.

Professional toothbrush designer might just be one of the saddest jobs in the world.

• Written on 14 March 2003 & posted at 11:51 AM.
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Don't start.
At all.
I know it's been eons since I've blog-ed, but it doesn't matter. No readers anyway! Well, this is my new site. It's finally up and ready and alive. ShinyPlasticBag.com has been...defunct since November. I've been so busy with life, the universe, and everything that it sort of got shunted to the side.
Hopefully, I'll rectify that, but I make no promises.
Anyway, enjoy.

And if the journal entries below bore you, too bad. They're basically the “what's new” list from when I was developing my blogger clone, which you can get here.

Oh, I almost forgot. The archives at the top don't work yet (fear not), and they are what's causing IE to report an error on the page. Give me some time!

• Written on 13 March 2003 & posted at 11:51 AM.
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